Parents in the US have been spending a lot of money on DVDs and movies for their children. Most of these DVDs are designed for young children and the parents hope that their children would learn a lot by watching them. This paper delves into studies carried out by researchers who carried out examinations on 12 to 18 months old children who watched the videos frequently to determine whether they benefitted from watching them. The results showed that that the videos could not help the children to learn more words as compared to those were exposed to no video condition.
Introduction
In recent years, parents have been spending millions of dollars in purchasing movies and other media products for their children. Most of them believe that exposing young children to movies and other forms of media products enables them to learn more quickly and efficiently. Consequently, the media have been making billions of dollars every year due to the high demand for the movies. Young children tend to learn a lot during their first years of life. Consequently, some parents think that the movies and DVDs play a role in the rapid development. However, studies have shown negative consequences in young children who watch the DVDs.
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Method
The studies were conducted on children aged between 12 and 18 months. During the studies, a total of 72 participants took part mainly from large cities and smaller towns. All of these participants were whites from middle-class families. None of these children had been exposed to the movies that were used during the research. During the study, a DVD that was designed for young children of 12 months was used. The researchers made several visits to the homes to give instructions to the parents about the conditions that they were supposed to expose their children. In the first condition, the parents were required to watch the video with their children five times a week for a total of more than 10 hours. While watching the movies, parents were advised to interact with their children explaining to them some of the things that seemed unnatural to them. In the second condition, the parents were required to leave their children to watch the videos alone without any interactions. Lastly, parents were required to teach their children and avoid the movies altogether.
Results
The results showed that parental teaching helped the children to learn more words when compared to those who were exposed to the videos. Moreover, parental instruction without exposure to the movies enabled the children to learn more words compared to those who were allowed to watch the videos.
Discussion
Children who viewed DVDs did not learn more words compared to those who were not exposed to the same content (DeLoache et al., 2010). The study demonstrated that a lot of learning was experienced when the children are not exposed to videos. Parents who tried to teach their children new words were able to note massive improvement in the ability of the children to learn. It is surprising to note that children who spend more time watching television and other media programs remember fewer words compared to those children who are not exposed to the same content.
The exposure of children movies and DVDs has other negative consequences for young children. Some parents tend to reduce the amount of time that they spend with their children because they believe that the movies will help the children learn. However, this has resulted in bad outcomes because they forget their primary responsibility of teaching their children. Indeed, it is not practical to substitute the role of a parent with a movie. Even though life has become increasingly busy, parents ought to find time to teach their children. This research provides overwhelming evidence that children between the ages of 12 months to 18 months learn very little from the media. It must also be noted that children have a challenge in distinguishing the real world and what they see in the movies. Despite the negative impact of early exposure of children to movies, some parents still attribute the development of their children to the movies.
Infant Media Exposure and Toddler Development
Abstract
The research was conducted to determine whether the duration and the content of the movies that are exposed to children aged six months had any significant impact on the development of the children at the age of 14 months. A total of 259 parents and their infants took part in the research which took about two years to conclude. All of these participants were mothers and infants from low socioeconomic status and the primary measure at the end of the research was the cognitive and development of language at the age of about 14 months. The findings from the study showed that prolonged exposure of movies to infants aged six months had an adverse effect on the cognitive functions of the infants.
Introduction
Many families allow their children to watch videos for long durations. In this research, the researchers aimed at establishing whether exposure to media content for long durations has an impact on child development. In other words, the researchers wanted to answer the question of whether the duration and content of media exposed to the children had beneficial or detrimental effects.
Method
The study aimed to find out the effects of infant media exposure. A total of 259 parents were asked to provide information about the electronic devices that they possess and the programs that their children were exposed to (Tomopoulos et al., 2010). Additionally, they were required to state the duration of time that their children spent watching the programs. After analyzing the information provided by the parents, the researchers found out that children who were exposed to watching movies for long hours had a lesser cognitive ability. Additionally, such children faced difficulties in language development. In fact, the study demonstrated that children who are exposed to movies at the end of six months come to experience adverse developmental effects at the age of 14 months. Such children experience difficulties in interacting with other children while playing. In addition, the fact that some of the movies showed aggressive characters influenced them to have the same behavior towards other children.
Results
The results showed that infants aged six months who were exposed to prolonged durations of watching movies that were designed for children had poor cognitive abilities. Additionally, these infants faced difficulties in the development of their language at the age of 14 months. Therefore, increased media exposure for infants significantly increased the risk of having poor cognitive abilities. It also makes them experience challenges in the development of language as compared to those who were not exposed to the long duration of watching the movies. Media exposure increased these risks by 50%. Exposure to adult movies gave even more unsatisfactory results because the risk increased by more than 50%.
Discussion
The movies reduce the amount of time that parents stay with their children and this has a negative consequence on language development. In addition, the early exposure of the children to movies and other forms of media programs interferes with their ability to play with other children. Additionally, the movies and DVDs have a direct negative impact on the development of the brain. Therefore, it is crucial for parents to understand the adverse effects of exposing babies to media. In fact, they should consider spending more time with the children to enable them to learn most effectively.
References
DeLoache, J., Chiong, C., Sherman, K., Islam, N., Vanderborght, M., Troseth, G., Strouse, G. and O’Doherty, K. (2010). Do Babies Learn From Baby Media?. Psychological Science, 21(11), pp.1570-1574.
Tomopoulos, S., Dreyer, B., Berkule, S., Fierman, A., Brockmeyer, C. and Mendelsohn, A. (2010). Infant Media Exposure and Toddler Development. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164(12).
